John B. Gardener interviewed by Zachary Nowak
30 July 2016 — Fenway Victory Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts
In this interview, Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx (whom I’ll call John B. Gardener in this interview) tells about how he started gardening in the Fenway Victory Gardens, his design philosophy for his plot, and what plants he has in his garden. This interview was done on a sunny Saturday in the Victory Gardens, so there is both noise from nearby streets as well as occasional noise from passersby. I used the built-in ‘Voice Recorder’ application on a Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone, held on my lap about 3’ from the interviewee. The resulting file was in the m4a format, which I converted online to the mp3 format. I transcribed the interview using the online software called Transcribe, made by Wreally Studios Inc.
This transcript is a condensed, somewhat abbreviated version of the original interview. Researchers looking for exact wording should consult the audio files on record with this transcript at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The interviewee sometimes makes false starts, or interjections like ‘you know,’ which I have eliminated in this transcript. I have also eliminated, in most cases, the words ‘So’ and ‘And’ if they begin a sentence. An ellipsis (…) marks where the interviewee trails off, while two hyphens (–) denote one person interrupting the other person. Note that an em dash (—) in this transcription is simply punctuation, used to indicate a parenthetical statement.
###
Zachary Nowak: Today is July 30th, 2016. My name is Zachary Nowak and I’m interviewing John B. Gardener in the Fenway Victory Gardens in Boston, Massachusetts. It’s a beautiful sunny day and this is Plot D4. How long have you been gardening here?
John B. Gardener: 3 years, here [in this plot for] 2 years. The park was opened in 19th century. In 1941, during war, life conditions go down. Russia forgot about help. People can visit land and plant what they want: veggies, flowers. This helpful for Boston population. After the war, very fast people don’t need garden. Bostonians could rent for $45 per year. Government gives water and mulch. People who use these gardens for many years. Last year change because many old people quit. New gardeners now.
ZN: Is there a difference between the old and young people in what they grow in the garden?
JBG: People either like to farm or not. If they don’t like it is difficult; if they do like it, it’s easy. I came to work as a volunteer 2 days a week. I came early before work, at 5:45am, because I like it, it’s a pleasure. After difficult day at work, I come to garden to relax here. Yesterday, when it rains I not come because of my health.
ZN: Do you live pretty close to here?
JBG: No, I live near the university. Land is expensive. A lot of money spent, my work is free.
ZN: Did you have a garden when you were a child?
JBG: As a child I had very big garden, my father had cows in Ukraine on the Black Sea. 100 meters from beach, 38 fruit trees: apricot, plums, cherry, apple, everything. My mom preserved all the vegetables. After 1950, we had a better life, no need for garden. Now I go to Star Market. Here I still have tomatoes. When my mom’s health was worse, I started gardening and learned I liked this work. I went to university at Odessa to study agriculture.
ZN: My grandfather was from Krakow. Where do you get plants?
JBG: Here tulips we bought, but rabbits ate. Weeds are a problem, start out clean, but…
ZN: What did you plant the first year?
JBG: I planted 6 roses. I like roses, 80 roses.
ZN: Varieties?
JBG: I have hibiscuses: red and 2 pink. They are very colorful and decorative, like a Syrian rose. They are very healthy, very popular. I make dark red tea from the petals of the hibiscus. I had some peas the first year. Daylilies, but not at all now. This year was very warm winter. March was warm, then frozen, and my roses died. My neighbors lost plants too. Every year there is big damage from rabbits. I try to fence.
ZN: What was inside the fence?
JBG: Tomatoes watered with a waterer, perfect for the tomatoes. Squirrels ate this one. Now I use netting from the top.
ZN: The netting is held down by stones. Where are other plants from?
JBG: Gardeners only give what they don’t need. I don’t need. I bought special for gardeners dwarf plants. I don’t change because I have what I want. I like Japanese begonias. This one is very old.
ZN: What is this, a yew?
JBG: It is like Japanese arborvitae. In Boston Museum of Fine Arts, they put marble on the soil, like a river. I like small sculpture from Hungary. It is not safe here because a lot of people are very dangerous. So I keep sculpture covered.
ZN: Where did you get the daylilies?
JBG: A year ago. I like perennials for many years, not cheap. I like this annual, simple. I cut because it was very high. It was 2 meters.
ZN: I see many roses.
JBG: 8 roses, this blooms later.
ZN: I see you have dill. Do you make pickles?
JBG: No, it was here. This is decorative, annual. In Russian it is gergen. This is St. Francis; my mother was born in Poland. She went to school in Russia. In 1970 I found their graves. Every year I come to Poland and Odessa. I was in Poland in 1971, last time; I emigrated in 1995. I have a good time in Poland. I call every week. She was in US, but it was difficult time for her family. She worked in the US for a few years. She has two sons in Odessa. I like Poland. Have you been there?
ZN: Yes, but not to Krakow. What are your garden plans for next year?
JBG: Japanese peonies, but I have no place. Last year I cut down tree, cut down hibiscus, now shorter. It just started flowering, until September. Many buds.
ZN: Can I cut one flower for a specimen? I would put it in my press. Thank you for the interview!
